The use of cuprous aluminum halide (CuAlX.sub.4) as a complexing agent in recovering carbon monoxide, aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons from gaseous streams containing same have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,592,865; 3,647,843; 3,651,159; 3,754,047 and 3,755,487.
In processes which employ cuprous aluminum halide.solvent sorbent solutions to extract carbon monoxide or aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons from streams containing same there is a tendency, particularly when the solution of complexing agent becomes contaminated with water, for a black "gunky" scale to form on the walls of the heat exchanger. This ultimately causes a loss in efficiency of the heat exchanger, i.e. a drop or decrease in the temperature differential, .DELTA.T, between the outlet and inlet of the exchanger. Heretofore, this scale or "gunky" material (a mixture of tars and cuprous halide) has been removed by hydroblasting, e.g., contacting with water or steam under high pressure. Such is undesirable because care must be exercised to remove the residual water before placing the exchanger back in service. The process of the present invention represents an improvement over the hydroblasting method for the following reasons: (1) maintenance costs are reduced, (2) less exposure of maintenance personnel to the sorption agent, (3) less down time since this method is faster than hydroblasting and (4) there is no solvent degradation due to residual water which could result from hydroblasting.
Some of the above noted disadvantages to the hydroblasting can be solved by the present invention.